Machine for spraying or coating articles.



C. W. GRAHAM.

MACHINE FOR SPRAYING 0R COATING ARTICLES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 3.1912.

1,148,163. Patented JuIy 27, 1915.

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APmcATloN FILED :uns a. 1912.

Patented July 27, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

C. W. GRAHAM.

MACHINE FOR SPRAYING 0R COATING ARTICLES.

APPucATloN HLED1uNE3.1912.

151489163. Patentemly 27, 1915.

3 SHEETS*SHEET 3.

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- y/wwlwvefgm fra srarns ramena? 'ernten CHARLES W. GRAHAM, vOIE NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN GAN COMPANY, 0F NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION 0F NEVIy JERSEY. l

MACHINE FOR SPRAYING OR COATING ARTGLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application led .Tune 3, 1912. Serial No. 701,131.

T0 all whom t may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES W. GRAHAM, a citizen of the United States, residing in New York, in the county of New Yorkand State of\New York, have inventedv a new and useful Improvement in Machines for Spraying or Coating Articles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in machines for spraying or coating articles. n

The object of the invention is to provide a machine which shallbe automatic in its operation throughout, and which will spray or treat articles at high speed, and which is so arranged that it is adapted to receive articles at .one station and conve)7 them to another station where the articles are treated, and which will then return the treated articles to the first position and discharge them from the machine into or onto any suitable device for receiving or removing the articles from the machine. `One struc# ture which I have shown and herein described, is adapted to spray a coating of lacquer or other similar protective material on can ends, but as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, other mechanisms may be substituted for the spraying devices lwhen it isdesired to use the machine for other purposes.

One structure which I have shown as embodying the invention, comprises a frame having a reciprocating slide provided with two series of pockets thereon for conveying a plurality of can heads or other articles al-v ternately from one side of the machine to the center and back again, means for releasing the articles on their return to the side of the machine, a set of spraying nozzles located centrally of the machine, a series of can head or other article feeders at each side of the machine and a pair of conveyers onto which the articles may be discharged after the same have been treated by the spraying nozzles and conveyed to a drying oven. l

My invention furthermore consists in the improvements in the parts and devices and in the novel combinations of parts and devices herein shown, described or claimed.

In the drawing -forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a machine embodying my improvements.

Figf is an end elevation of the structure shown in Fig. l. Fig. 3 is al vertical section,

Patented July 2?, 1915.

taken onthe line 3 3 of Fig. 1, and being upon a somewhat enlarged scale.

Fig. 4f

is a plan view of the top of the machine, l showing only the bed, the reciprocating slide and the mechanisms immediately con nected therewith, and Figs. 5 and 6 are detail, sectional views of one of the article feeding devices and the .valve mechanism, zV

respectively. .i

In the drawing, 10 denotes the frame,

adapted to suitably support the various mechanisms hereinafter described, and has' y i mounted -therein at one end a driving'shaft 11, the latter being driven from anysuitable source of power, as by means of a pulley 12.

disk 16, secured to the shaft 11, the cam on said disk being'so arranged that the slide M is provided with a dwell or rest' period at each end Vof its movements. is provided with two series of pockets 17,

17, said pockets being so arranged that when the slide is at one end of its movement, one.-V

The slide V14 l l set of the pockets is disposed lbelow a plu` rality of article feeding devices A, A, arV i vranged on one side of the machine, and the other set is disposed below af plurality of spraying nozzlesV B, B, disposed centrally longitudinally of the machine. Each of the pockets 17 is provided with a ledge 18 `on the outer edge thereof, and a movable ledge is formed on the opposite-side of each of said pockets as by means of a bar 19, mountedon links 20, 20, said bars 19 being nor# mally held in position as by means of leaf springs 21 engaging one end thereof. The

can ends or other articles are first fed to the pockets 17, and will be retained 'therein by means of the ledges 18 and bars 19, while the articles are moved to a. position beneath the spraying nozzles, and after the slide is brought back to itsfinitialpositionat the side of the machine, the canhea-ds or other articles will be released by means of the bar 19 being reciprocated against the action of the spring 21 by means of a pivoted trip 22, the latter being provided with a curved face and adapted to engage the adjacent end of the bar 19. Each of the trips 22 is so arranged that it will operate the bars 19 only when the latter are traveling from the center ofthe machine to the side thereof,

The feed devices A are arranged at opposite sides of the machine and correspond in number to the number of pockets in the reciprocating slide, andsaid feed devices are operated from the driving shaft 11 as by means of bevel gears 27, vertical shaft 28 bevel gears 29 and 30, the latter being secured to a short, horizontal shaft 31, having a bevel gear 32 at its opposite end meshing with a corresponding bevel gear 33, having a pinion 34 at its lower end adapted to drive a plurality of gears 35 secured to the feeding devices and spraying nozzles, all of said gears being intermeshed, so that all of the feeding devices and vspraying nozzles are i continuously. operated.

i Each of the article feeding mechanisms A ,I comprises a stationary stack holder, preferably formed of a plurality of spaced rods 36 secured in a suitable bracket 37 extending over the bed of the machine. Arranged 1n alinement with the stationary stack holder ,gzis-arotary stack-holder 38, mounted in a `Suitablebracket 39, and to which is secured the driving gear 35. Also secured to the ro- L. 'tatable member 38 is a plurality of pivoted Afeed fingers 40, adapted to extend4 into the rotatable member 38, the same being ar- 'i ranged in diametrieally disposed pairs, and

each having a projectionioperating m a cam `groove 41 formed in the bracket 39, the cam grooves 41 being so arranged that eachpair of fingers will be given a complete reciprocation into and out of the rotatable member 38 during each complete rotation of the latter, and in this'way separate the bottom- ,most can end or other article 42 from the stack, and vallow the same to fall into the Ypocket on the slide beneath.

Each of the sprayingdevices consists of a cylindrical member 43 rotatably mounted in la bracket 37, and having secured thereto its driving gear 35, and having at its lower end .aperforated Haring nozzle 44. Each cylindrical portion 43 communicates with the .supply tank 45 by means of apipe 46, the

' latter terminating in a valve seat 47, in

which is rotatably mounted a valve 448, all of said valves 48 being secured to a common rotating shaft 49, the latter being operated as by means of a sprocket gear 50, sprocket chain 51, driven from the shaft 31 (see Figs. l and 2). The gearing is such that the valves 48 will be given a complete rotation once during each complete rotation of the drive shaft 11, and in this way supply the lacquer or other liquid twice to the can heads on the reciprocating slide 14 while the openings in the valve and spray head connections register. The driving mechanism for the can head feeding devices is such that the latter are given only half a rotation during each complete rotation of the driving shaft. l

The operation of the device is as follows: A number of articles are placed in one series of the pockets 17 while the slide is at one side of the machine and are moved under the spraying heads B, at which time another set of articles are being fed to the other series of pockets, after which the slide is then reciprocated back to its former position, whereupon the can heads or other articles first mentioned will be discharged from the slide onto the conveyer beneath, and immediately thereafter another set of articles will be deposited in the pockets and the foregoing operations repeated indefinitely. Although I have shown and described the mechanism as adapted to receive and treat four articles at a time, it will be obvious that the machine may be adapted to operate on any number desired of can heads or other articles. As will be obvious to those skilled in the art, many changes and variations may be made in the various parts of the mechanism Withoutv departing from the spirit of the invention, among others the substitution of d'ierent forms of feeding `mechanisms, spraying devices and driving mechanisms for those which I have shown and described, and all such changes and variations are contemplated as fall Within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim 1. In a machine for treating articles, in combination, a reciprocating transferring member, mechanism for moving said member, said machine being provided with a station for placing articles ony said transferring member, and a station for treating said articles, and means for releasing the treated articles from said 4 transferring member while the latter is in motion and While approaching a position to receive a second set of articles to be treated at the end of one stroke of the reciprocating movement substantially as specified.

2. In a machine for treating articles, in combination: a reciprocating transferring member, mechanism for moving said member, said machine being provided with a station for placing articles on said transferring member, and a station for treating said articles, and means for delivering the treated articles downward below the path of said transferring member after the latter has left the treating station and before it receives a second set of articles to be treated at the receiving station, at the end of the i stroke of the said transferring member.

3. In a machine for treating articles, in combination: a reciprocating transferring member, mechanism for moving said member, said machine being provided with a station for placing articles on said transferring member, and a station for treating said articles, and means for releasing the treated articles from said transferring member, and delivering them through the under side of the transferring member prior to receiving on the upper side of the transferring inember a second set of articles to be treated, at the end of the stroke of the transferring member. v

4. In a machine for coating can heads, in

p sets of feeding devices for feeding articles vtosaid conveyer, one set located at each side -of the set of spraying devices, and means for delivering the treated articles, said deliver-y means operating at each side of the spraying devices and at a time between the operation of the spraying devices and the operation of the feeding devices.

6. In a machine of the character described, in combination: a central set of spraying devices, a set of can head feeding devices at each side of the said spraying devices, a reciprocating conveyer arranged to alternately and successively convey can heads from each setv of feeding devices .to the spraying devices, and means delivering the treated can heads. l

7. In a machine of the character described, in combination: a central set of coating devices, a set of can head feeding devices at each side of said coating devices, a reciprocating conveyer arranged beneath the coating devices and beneath the feeding devices and arranged to convey can heads to be treated alternately from each set of feeding devices to the central set of coating devices, and means for discharging the treated can heads downward through the'conveyer.

8. In a machine of the character described, in combination, a reciprocating conveyer, spraying or coating devices comprising a plurality of similarly operated nozzles. said nozzles being disposed rabove the center' of the path of movement of said conveyer, each of said nozzles being continuously rotatable adapted to receive can heads-or other `ar-l ticles, each pocket being provided with a movable ledge adapted to sustain the can heads or other articles when in normal position, said ledges being movable, whereby the articles are adapted to be released from said pockets.

10. In a machine of the class described, a conveyer provided with two sets of pockets, each pocket .being provided with a movable ledge, and means for moving the ledges in each set of pockets alternately.

11. In a machine of the class described, a reciprocating conveyer provided with two sets of parallelly arranged pockets adapted to receive can heads-or other articles, each of said pockets being provided with a movable ledge adapted, when in normal position, to support the articles in the pockets and to release the articles when moved from normal position, and means for moving said ledge, said means comprising a pivoted trip adapted to operate the movable ledges while the conveyer is moving in one direction only. 12. In machine for spraying or coating articles, in combination, a frame, a reciprocating conveyer mounted thereon, said conveyer being provided with a' plurality of pockets adapted to receive can heads or similar articles, means for spraying or coat-l ing articles while on said conveyer, said spraying devices, and each set comprising a plurality of units, each unit adapted to feed a can head or other article to one of the pockets of the conveyer, each set of feeding mechanisms being disposed in a position above the sets of pockets in the conveyer when the latter is at the end of each stroke.

13. In a machine for spraying or coating articles, in combination, a framework, a reciprocating conveyer mounted thereon, said conveyer being provided with two sets 4gbf parallelly arranged pockets adapted to receive can heads orsimilar articles, a series of spraying nozzles located above the center of the path of reciprocation of said con-,

veyer, and two series of mechanisms for feeding articles to the pockets in said conveyer, each series of feeding mechanisms l mechanisms and pockets on the conveyer being so arranged that While one set of pocketsis disposed beneath one set of feeding mechanisms, the other yset is disposed below the spraying nozzles, whereby a number of can heads or similar articles is being sprayed While a second supply of can heads is being fed to the conveyer.

14. 41n a machine for spraying or coating articles, in combination, a frame, a reciproeating' conveyer mounted thereon, and a series of' spraying nozzles located above the center of the path of movement of said conveyer, each of said nozzles being continuously rotatable and being intermittently supplied with a liquid, said conveyer having pivotally mounted thereon two-spring coni trolled bars, each having a portion normally disposed in each pocket of one set and being adapted to'serve as a ledge for retaining the can heads or other articles in the pocket, and means formoving said bars from normal position, whereby the can heads or other articles arereleased from the pockets.V

l5. In a machine lfor spraying or coating articles, in combination: `a central set of spraying nozzles; means for intermittently supplying said nozzles with liquid; a conveyer provided with two sets of pockets to Which can heads are adapted tobe fed; means for reciprocating. the conveyer to bring each set of pockets alternately in line with the spraying nozzles; and means for discharging the treated can heads.

16. In a machine for spraying or coating articles, in combination: a central set of coating devices; means for intermittently supplying said coating devices With liquid; a reciprocating conveyer provided with tWo sets of can head receiving pockets,-one set at each side ofthe coating devices; means for reciprocating the 'conveyer to bring each set of pockets alternately in line with the coating devices; a set of can head feeding devices above the conveyer and at each side of the coating devices; and a conveyer at each side of the coating devices, arranged beneath the reciprocating conveyer and adapted to receive coated can heads therefrom;

and means for discharging the coated can heads from each set of pockets to its appropriate receiving conveyer.

17. Axmachine adapted for coating can ends and like articles including, in combination: spaced devices adapted to feed can ends or other articles one by one from a stack; means for coating articles located intermediate said devices, said means being automatically and intermittently actuated; a conveyer movable from Aposition beneath one ofsaid feeding devices to the other; and means for automatically discharging articles fromV said conveyer after the same have been coated, said means operating While the orfilveyer is moving, substantially as speci- 18. A machine of the character described including, in combination: a reciprocating conveyer having spaced sets of can end receiving pockets on its upper face, said conveyer having a period of rest at the end of each stroke of its movement; two spaced sets of automatically operated means adapted to discharge can ends one by one from a stack and deposit them in said pockets, the number of said means corresponding to the num- CHARLES vv. GRAHAM.

Witnesses: l

W. D. FOSTER, WALTER HENRY. 

